September 21, 2002
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The Rediff Interview/ Jan Desmet'India's IT sector will see a drop in high growth rate'In keeping with its mission of moving up the value chain, Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies, has been ramping up its operations at the Infosys Business Consulting Services. Under the leadership of Jan Desmet, who is based in the US and has more than 20 years of consulting experience, IBCS is working hard at offering 'fully integrated value added solutions'. Prior to joining Infosys, Desmet worked with Diamond Technology Partners, Andersen Consulting, Booz Allen Hamilton and Electronic Data Systems. He is now responsible for growing a global practice in terms of generating IBCS revenues and generating a substantial downstream revenue impact. In this interview, Desmet tells M D Riti about the company's efforts to help transform organizations using technological innovations. What exactly does IBCS do? Our focus in the IT consulting area is on offering fully integrated, value added solutions. We do not stop with providing clients with reports of what to do, but with roadmaps and solutions indicating how to do it. Infosys can also implement these solutions, if required. We therefore focus our efforts on our ability to help transform organizations using technology and technological innovations. This is where we are different and clients are recognizing it. Does it do any back office work like Progeon? How is it a move up the value chain for Infosys?
Infosys has positioned itself as an end-to-end player starting from strategic consulting to application development, maintenance, system integration, IT outsourcing, BPO (business process outsourcing) etc. We, at IBCS, service the high-end consulting side of the business. Progeon takes care of the other value chain by servicing clients in the BPO segment. Do you find it difficult to compete with American companies in areas like consulting, where your clients need to have a lot of respect for your business acumen, and not just your coding skills? We are finding that more and more clients are now considering working with us in the areas of strategy, process and implementation because of our execution capability. This means we will be able to provide clients with a solution for which the benefits can actually be measured and that's what counts. What is your turnover? Consulting contributed around 4.2 per cent, of our revenues for the financial year ending March 31, 2002. Have you been hiring more people over the past few months? We are recruiting on a global scale, as per our business requirements. As such, we are building a pool of resources that can operate on a local as well as global scale. How has business been affected by the Phaneesh Murthy incident? Mr Basab Pradhan had already taken over as Head of Worldwide Sales. We believe that the impact of Phaneesh's resignation would not have any material impact on the company. And how has Infosys been affected by the global slowdown? There is no doubt that the Indian IT industry has been impacted by the slowdown. Infosys has always embraced the PSPD model--Predictability, Sustainability, Profitability and Derisking--which has helped the company maintain a sturdy growth over the years. We also believe that the high rate of growth the Indian IT industry saw in the last two years will not be replicated as the industry matures and consolidates itself Why have Indian software giants been so slow in moving up the value chain? In today's highly competitive business environment, nurturing customer relationships is essential to success. Customer relationships are a key business asset and cash flow from these relationships represents a company's total market value.
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